Sounds of Music
The Newcomb Department of Music at Tulane University is celebrating its centennial anniversary in November. Founded in 1909 as the Newcomb College School of Music, it was the first music school in New Orleans to be associated with a liberal arts college. A weeklong series of free concerts will be held at Tulane and around New Orleans beginning on Monday (Nov. 2).
"For 100 years, the Department of Music has enriched the cultural lives of students, faculty and staff at Tulane as well as the people of New Orleans," says Michael Howard, chair of the department and artistic director of Summer Lyric Theatre. "Through offerings such as Summer Lyric Theatre, the weekly Music at Midday concert series, the Classical Guitar and Piano Series, orchestra and choir concerts, our partnership with New Orleans Friends of Music, and the marching band at Mardi Gras, we hope we are bringing joy and beauty to our community."
From classical music to musical theater to jazz, there is a mélange of sounds to hear on the Tulane uptown campus.
View the video produced by Kathryn Hobgood, with photos by Sally Asher.
The original Newcomb College School of Music offered courses in theory and harmony, sight-singing and ear-training, general history of music, appreciation of music, and practical lessons on piano, organ, voice, and violin, according to John Baron, professor and head of the musicology graduate program.
Now the Department of Music is renowned for its musical theater program and productions of Summer Lyric Theatre, as well as its music technology, composition, musicology, ethnomusicology and performance faculty.
The resources of the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz, the Maxwell Music Library, the Louisiana Collection, the Amistad Research Center, and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies make Tulane a major center for music research. Jazz studies and music science and technology are the latest additions to music studies at Tulane.
Both faculty and students will perform during the centennial celebration. For more information, contact James Velasquez at 504-862-3216 or Diane Banfell at 504-862-3214.
